Blogcritics Author: Brandon Valentine

Movie Review: WALL�E

Brandon Valentine — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 13:17:52 EDT

WALL�E has everything including heart.
To say that WALL•E is solely a sweet and/or cute, kiddy picture is a gross understatement; the film is smart, visionary, touching, and revolutionary. It appeals to every sci-fi, art house, animation, and romance aficionado. To boot, while WALL•E is marketed more toward the little ones, it is geared toward humans of all shapes and sizes....

Movie Review: Oldboy

Brandon Valentine — Sun, 6 Jul 2008 20:00:01 EDT

Through and through, Oldboy is a vengeance film.
"Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone." While these words open the famous poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox entitled “Solitude,” they are also repeated often in Chan-wook Park’s Oldboy. As the main character recites these words time and time again, they reflect to his personal affliction and indicate...

Movie Review: Young@Heart

Brandon Valentine — Tue, 1 Jul 2008 21:01:38 EDT

Every person � young or old � should make time for Young@Heart.
The Young@Heart Chorus is comprised of two dozen elderly members whose average age is 80. While you might expect covers of “Satin Doll” and “I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart” from this age group, the chorus of great, great grandparents sing everything from modern-day rock and roll and punk, to classic R&B and disco. ...

Movie Review: Ratatouille

Brandon Valentine — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:55:22 EDT

Bird delivers a beautifully animated food film that gives off a fine aroma and spikes the senses.
There is something taboo about placing rats in the kitchen; they’re dirty, and their scampering little bodies are a red flag against a clean, white cooking sanctuary. Nonetheless, writer/director Brad Bird tackles the task of transforming the forbidden rodent law into something sweet, soft, cuddly, and delicious. While this film falls short...

Movie Review: Vertigo

Brandon Valentine — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:30:11 EDT

Vertigo is an illustrious masterpiece of infatuation, deception, detection, and dizzy spells that delivers on multiple levels.
Rightfully acknowledged by many as Hitchcock’s “greatest achievement,” Vertigo is an illustrious masterpiece of infatuation, deception, detection, and dizzy spells that delivers on multiple levels. In addition to its spinning sensation, induced by the “contra-zoom/trombone shot,” Vertigo exhibits a rotational...

Movie Review: The Incredible Hulk

Brandon Valentine — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:07:44 EDT

There�s enough CGI stomping, clapping, and smashing to appease the action hounds and keep most viewers generally satisfied.
Not a sequel to The Hulk, The Incredible Hulk is more of a renaissance. It’s a rebirth of Ang Lee’s interpretation constructed to fall in line with the upcoming barrage of Marvel motion-pictures. Speaking of which, at the close of The Incredible Hulk, fellow Marvel star Robert Downey Jr. makes a cameo as Tony Stark. Unfortunately for...

Movie Review: The Happening

Brandon Valentine — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 10:36:14 EDT

It�s survival of the fittest out there, and M. Night Shyamalan still looks egregiously out of shape.
After M. Night Shyamalan’s first three suspenseful “twisters” (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs), audience expectations have been exceedingly high. While some were quick to call Shyamalan the next Hitchcock/Spielberg, others saw his potential, but needed further confirmation before making such a bold statement concerning...

Movie Review: Once

Brandon Valentine — Mon, 2 Jun 2008 07:24:30 EDT

Once instantly earns the titles of one of my all-time favorite films and the best musical ever composed.
Drenched in heartfelt lyrics, earnest emotions, in-tune instruments, and harmonious vocals, Once is a breathtaking compilation of song and raw sentiment. This Irish musical, with a $100K budget and a $9 million gross, is an ideal motion picture from beginning to end. Incidentally, Once instantly earns the titles of one of my all-time favorite...

Movie Review: The Seventh Seal

Brandon Valentine — Sun, 25 May 2008 14:33:01 EDT

The Seventh Seal is a foreign, �50s art-house, existential allegory of religion, angst, love, and the meaning of life.
“And when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to blow.” The title, The Seventh Seal, is taken from this Biblical quotation straight out of The Revelation of St. John the Divine, chapter eight. Fittingly, the film...

Movie Review: Teeth

Brandon Valentine — Sat, 17 May 2008 12:45:45 EDT

Teeth is a brazen black comedy/horror that will leave male viewers feeling diminished after entering triumphantly.
According to Wikipedia, “vagina dentata is Latin for toothed vagina. Various cultures have folk tales about women with toothed vaginas, frequently told as cautionary tales warning of the dangers of sex with strange women.” Teeth, the most talked about entry in the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, is built around this concept of vagina...